Keith Ford aims to keep Texas A&M's ground game on track

Texas A&M running back Keith Ford steps out of an attempted tackle by Prairie View linebacker Steven Guillory and heads for the end zone.

Photo: Sam Craft, FRE

COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M running back Keith Ford set aside the old fallback "no regrets" in reflecting on what's been an eventful college career, in revealing he actually has a big misgiving. "I'll go back and forth sometimes," Ford said. "I'll say, 'Dang, I should have come here first.' "

Ford, a former Cypress Ranch standout, first played at Oklahoma, where he rushed for a combined 503 yards as a freshman and sophomore, with an average of 5.8 yards per carry.

Caught up in a crowded backfield in Norman, Okla., in spring 2015, Ford regretted his decision out of high school of choosing the Sooners over the Aggies.

"I just wanted to get closer to home, closer to my family," he said of his decision to transfer from OU to A&M. "I was very homesick. I love Norman, but I felt Texas A&M was the place for me to be. I just put it in God's hands."

Ford (5-11, 215) sat out last season under NCAA transfer rules, and the junior has been just what A&M needed in its backfield this year: a bullish runner who mostly sticks between the tackles. A&M offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone described Ford as the type of back who will try to "make a hole" if there's not a hole in a defense to begin with.

Replacing QB rush yards

The No. 8 Aggies, who play host to Mississippi at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, need Ford and freshman running back Trayveon Williams to help carry the offense more than ever. Senior quarterback Trevor Knight, the team's second-leading rusher behind Williams, is out for the season with an injured right (throwing) shoulder.

While Ford (385) trails Williams (803) and Knight (583) in rushing yards, he's been valuable against the more imposing defensive front sevens in SEC play. He led the team in rushing with 62 yards on 15 carries in the Aggies' 33-14 loss at top-ranked Alabama on Oct. 22.

That's only 4 yards less than what the Crimson Tide are allowing as a team (66 rushing yards per game), tops in the nation by 20 yards. While Williams (5-9, 200) is a shiftier, flashier runner, the dependable Ford also can help ease the burden on new quarterback Jake Hubenak in only his second career start.

Knight was a thrower and runner, while Hubenak is primarily a passer, and quite capable of handing off the ball in a more traditional approach to the offense with Knight sidelined. Mississippi is 117th against the run out of 128 FBS teams in rushing defense, so the Aggies likely will turn to Ford and Williams early and often against the Rebels in trying to help calm Hubenak.

"Obviously we lose the running of Trevor, which we had put a lot of (offense) in for that," Mazzone said. "We're going to adjust that a little bit more, and hopefully hand it off to the backs a little more."

'We're a band of brothers'

Ford has only been part of the A&M program a little more than a year, but he and fellow junior James White are the elder statesmen among a collection of backs, including sophomore Kwame Etwi and freshman Kendall Bussey.

"We're a band of brothers," Ford said of the running backs both competing against and supporting one another. "We play for each other and thrive off of each other. We pick each other up, because there are going to be some times when things aren't going right."

Like last Saturday, when the then-No. 4 Aggies fell behind at Mississippi State 28-7 before losing 35-28, essentially knocking A&M out of the playoff race days after the first College Football Playoff ranking came out.

"The main thing is sticking together, don't let this tear us (apart)," Ford said. "It (stinks) to lose, because we had worked so hard to get where we were."

Eyes on bowl season

The Aggies still have a good shot at a good bowl, after playing in three mid-tier postseason games the last three seasons in the Chick-fil-A, Liberty and Music City bowls. A berth in the Sugar, Cotton or Orange bowls is a possibility, among others.

But earning as much likely will mean possessing a solid running game outside of a quarterback's ample contribution, as the Aggies wrap up the regular season against Mississippi, UTSA and LSU, all at Kyle Field.

"Noel has done a nice job offensively of giving us an opportunity to play to our players' skillsets," A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said of the transition to Hubenak from Knight, and how it will impact play-calling. "That's not going to change."

Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle covering Texas A&M athletics. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball.

Brent is the author of four published books about Texas A&M, three related to A&M athletics. He’s a four-time winner of APSE National Top 10 writing awards for the San Antonio Express-News, including a second-place finish for breaking the Dennis Franchione “secret newsletter” scandal in 2007.

His coverage of Texas A&M’s move to the SEC from the Big 12 also netted a third-place finish nationally in 2012. Brent met his wife, KBTX-TV news anchor Crystal Galny, in the Dixie Chicken before an A&M-Texas Tech football game in 2002, and the couple has three children: Will, Zoe and Brady.